How to avoid killing your player characters as GM

[hal]

Having started the thread, I watched the ebbs and flows of the conversation, and smiled at some responses and gave the equivalent of a mental shrug on others. All the things brought up were interesting of course, so all is good.

The thing I'd like to point out in all of this, is that a GM can be mindful of NOT overwhelming his player's characters to the point that even seeming insurmountable "Bad things" can be dealt with in some way shape or form. House rules can be crafted to suit the needs of the GM where he feels that certain rules are either not sufficient to realism, or are too hindering for the kind of atmosphere the GM wants to utilize.

When you introduce magic into the game, there are all kinds of spells that can help save even lost limbs. Toss in sci-fi where you can have cybernetic limbs and that broadens the playing field all the more.

GMs new to GURPS should spend the time reading and re-reading the rules to see how the pieces of the puzzle fit together, and they should then try a few practice runs "Solo" to see how things can come into play - treating the NPC's they build as player characters - well, as player characters ;)

After a while, you as the newbie GM, begin to see how the game can unfold, and can even anticipate what your players will do. When players need some form of education on how GURPS plays out, have a few "NPC" ally characters do the things that the players are not doing. This shows the players what the benefits are, or are not, using certain combat options or what have you.

Demonstrate for example, what happens when a fighter has low levels of skill and uses the "Telegraphed blow" option. Sure, the defender gains a +2 bonus to their defense rolls, but aiming for the head with a -5 penalty to hit initially, using a skill of 12, means that the attacker needs a 7 or less to hit their opponent. Using Telegraphed blow PLUS aimed shot to the head for a skill 12 NPC, results in needing a roll of an 11 or less. NOW - as GM, you've done two things...

1) Increased the chances of a successful defense roll against the attack.
2) demonstrated for the players that hey, try this

Better yet? If as GM, your NPCs are using Telegraphed blow - you've given your players an automatic +2 bonus to their defense rolls. For me as GM, I rarely have NPCs with a skill rating of 14 or higher, utilize the telegraphed blow, but then again, for those with skill levels less than 12, I almost ALWAYS use telegraphed blow these days.

In one campaign, I had a player get involved in an unsanctioned street fight using Martial Arts against a really STRONG guy with implanted blades in his fist (Cyberpunk campaign). You would think that a skill 10 street fighter with brawling would lose to a martial artist with a skill of (I believe) 13. Sadly, the martial artist lost. Why? Street fighter kept going for head shots with telegraphed blow, reducing his "to hit" down to either an 8 or 9 (forget now which it was). The martial artist kept rolling good "to hit" rolls, but lousy Damage rolls. Then it happened - a SINGLE "slash" to the player character's head that was a crit success. Net result, player character goes down with a destroyed facial sinus cavity region plus an eye taken out of action as well. Player character is rescued by TRAUMA TEAM, stabilized, then taken into surgical care where the character dies on the operating table. He's brought back to life, and then stabilized and finally saved.

Why? Because his death saving roll initially failed only by 2, and then his arrival at the hospital with top notch surgeons resulted in his being kept alive and eventually, healed.

You can NEVER "death proof" a game simply because critical hits offer a means for the player characters to kill NPC's in a single blow - but good for the goose means good for the gander. PC's can die in a single blow. Nice thing is, crit hits to the head are relatively rare in most campaigns simply because crit successes are relatively rare.

With luck, sufficient ideas exist in this thread to help the newbie GM's out there.

As a final note: During the Vietnam conflict, one Soldier had the misfortune of being hit by an AK round, that entered into his chest, and exited out of his elbow. Went into torso, tumbled through into his arm, and exited out his elbow region. THAT is what I would call a critical success to the damage roll for a GURPS combat situation. It is freakish, not the norm, and - by virtue of having happened in reality, is certainly possible in a GURPS CAMPAIGN.

It should not come as any surprise, that while combat may be an "exciting" thing to have in a game, if you put your head on the chopping block on a regular basis (ie get into mortal combats), don't be surprised if the chopping blade finally lands upon the neck of your player character.

I have one player who constantly says "Great Strategist, lousy die roller" for his characters. That he holds the distinction of having the most "Boot hill" characters - could be due to the fact that at times, choosing options like "All out attacks" is perhaps not the smart way to go. ;)